I see two broad tendencies here. One is a "super Mini", and the other one is a "bare bones Pro".
I prefer the super Mini route. For one thing I think the price range should be $1100 to $1500. By the time you get to $1700 you are too close to the low end of the Pro ($2100), and too far from the Mini. Better to "risk" canibalizing Mini sales (to give a clear and easy to reach "upsale" price point from the Mini), rather than to risk downsales to the more profitable Pro. The...

Actually, the "box and screen" concept is not Microsoft's at all. This dates back to the Altair, the Radio Shack TRS-80, and especially the Apple II.
Why especially? Because the basic PC architecture of a box with a mainboard and a series of slots for flexible expansion was introduced by the Apple II. The closest previous concept was something called the S-100 bus, but it was designed on a dumb backplane, where the CPU would be on one of the cards.
(OK, so I'm showing my...

[QUOTE=snoopy]You guys just don't get it. An Mac mini tower does not compete with a Windows mini tower. Those looking for low to mid priced Windows computers will buy Windows. Those looking for a low to mid priced Mac desktop can choose a Mac Mini or an iMac today. A Mac mini tower would only compete against these.
With all due respect, I think you don't get it. It's about bootcamp and virtualization and the rest of it. It is now possible to move to the Mac...

This is what I would like, and what some people here are talking about.
Specs:
One CPU, either Core Duo or Core 2 Duo, in the range of 2.0-2.4 GHz
Two standard disk bays with the same system as the Mac Pro, except stacked one over the other. They would plug in directly to the main board, which would be vertical on the inside right of the machine as seen from the front. (note the left side removable panel).
Two standard DIMMs.
One PCIe x16 slot, vertical...